Equity markets in Canada climbed on Thursday, led by technology shares, as investor confidence grew that the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada would maintain their interest rate cut trajectories.
The TSX was still positive by noon, ahead 52.16 points to 30,689.28.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 71.19 cents.
In corporate news, Altius Minerals reported Wednesday that its attributable royalty revenue for the third quarter is expected to reach about $21.2 million from $14.7 million in the same period last year.
Altius shares gained $1.35, or 4%, to $34.85.
BoC Governor Tiff Macklem is set to speak on Canada's economic outlook at 1:30 p.m. ET. Market participants price in 66% chances of a 25-basis-point rate cut at the October 29 policy meeting.
Despite last week's unexpectedly robust jobs report, many analysts believe the central bank remains on an easing trajectory — one that might proceed slower rather than being completely derailed.
On the economic ledger, the Canadian Real Estate Association declared the number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS Systems declined by 1.7% on a month-over-month basis in September 2025, ending a string of gains that began in April. That said, it was still the best month of September for sales since 2021.
Moreover, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported the six-month trend in housing starts increased (4.1%) in September (277,147 units). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange settled 7.68 points to 1,019.93.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, as gold sprinted 3.8%, materials picked up 2.4%, and telecoms progressed 0.6%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy, sliding 0.7%, while financials and industrial stocks each fell 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed Thursday despite big banks’ better-than-expected earnings and strong revenue forecasts from technology firms that temporarily shifted investors’ focus from a spate of recent escalations in the U.S.-China trade war.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell back 63.4 points to 46,189.83.
The S&P 500 dipped 16.55 points to 6,654.51
The tech-heavy NASDAQ shed 106.24 points to 22,563.84.
All three indexes were trading up earlier in the session.
Several Big Tech stocks made gains, despite macroeconomic tensions weighing on investor sentiment. Nvidia shares were up roughly 1%, while Broadcom’s stock also rose 1.1% after Taiwan Semiconductor, which produces chips for Nvidia, raised its 2025 revenue guidance to mid-30% growth from roughly 30% and reiterated its plan to commit up to $42 billion to capital expenditures by the end of this year.
Taiwan Semiconductor also reported a nearly 40% surge in third-quarter profit.
Salesforce’s shares jumped 4%, marking the best performance among Dow members in early trading, after the software company gave better-than-expected long-term targets seeing revenue of more than $60 billion in 2030. Memory chip maker Micron added to the tech gains, jumping 3.5% after getting a bullish call from UBS.
Several big bank stocks gave up most or all their gains after jumping earlier this week on their strong earnings reports. Bank of America and Citi shares went into the red, trading 1% and 1.7% lower, respectively. Morgan Stanley shares were up just 0.2%.
President Donald Trump last week threatened to place an additional 100% tariff on any goods coming from China in response to the country’s new export controls on rare earth minerals. The trade tone softened over subsequent days, but tensions increased again Tuesday, when Trump on threatened China with a cooking oil trade ban.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury found new energy Thursday, lowering yields to 4.01% from Wednesday’s 4.04%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained eight cents to $58.35 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $90.80 to $4,292.40 U.S. an ounce.
